Duma rejects amendments to end all sex propaganda to minors

Russia’s lower house has voted against a proposed bill that would ban the promotion of all sexual material aimed at minors, with which its authors planned to amend the already existing law banning gay propaganda.

The bill containing the radical restrictions was drafted by MP
Maria Maksakova-Ingebergs of the centrist conservative United
Russia party, which currently holds the majority of seats in the
parliament. It suggested a change in the federal law on
children’s rights and the one protecting children against
potentially harmful information.

In particular, the MP wanted to recognize “any information
that promotes the priority of sexual relations before life
values, spiritual and intellectual development” as harmful
for the children’s health and development. The measures would be
backed by fines for those publishing such concepts in the mass
media, cinema and internet sites.

The Lower House committee for family women and children opposed
the draft claiming that Russian legislation already had bans on
distributing information products containing sexual references
among minors. The committee’s members also said that if the bill
was passed it would practically replace the recently introduced
ban on gay propaganda towards children which is undesirable as
the ban was protecting the foundations of the family institution.

Russia introduced the law banning the promotion of
non-traditional sexual relations to minors in mid-2013. Before
and after this move LGBT activists inside the country and abroad
dubbed the act ‘the gay propaganda ban’ and called for protests
ranging from a boycott of Russian vodka to a boycott of the 2014
Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Russian sponsors of the ban and senior officials have repeatedly
noted that the law is not discriminatory and only seeks to
protect children. President Vladimir Putin also described the ban
as non-discriminatory and said he was ready to meet with leaders
of the LGBT community to discuss their problems, but had not yet
received any suggestions.

Despite the vocal and frequent protests the majority of the
Russian public supported the law. A 2013 a poll conducted by the
influential independent Levada research center showed that about
85 percent of adult Russians were strongly against same sex
marriage, and 87 percent oppose the idea of gay pride events in
their cities.